Powering Queensland’s Future plan released

The Queensland Labor Party has released its renewable energy policies for the upcoming Queensland election in the form of the Powering Queensland’s Future plan.

Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said, “Our Powering Queensland’s Future plan sets out actions to make sure we get the balance right, delivering more of the cheapest form of new generation renewables sooner to complement our young and efficient fleet of coal and gas-fired generation.

“Getting this balance right will deliver affordable and stable power for households, businesses and industry.

“There are a number of proposals currently in the market, for example CWP Renewables is currently proposing to build a solar thermal plant near Townsville, which would support approximately 2000 jobs during construction, and 50 operational and maintenance jobs.

“This will contribute to our focus on flexible and dispatchable generation which can deliver power to the grid when it’s needed.”

The key points of the plan include:

At least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable generation, on top of the existing 400MW of large-scale renewables already in place

A commitment to at least 50 per cent renewables by 2030

Up to $50 million and other support for a new concentrating solar thermal power plant

$97 million for solar and energy efficiency measures in schools, including $40 million for 35MW of solar PV and $57 million for energy efficiency measures

The establishment of a new, government-owned utility, CleanCo, with a strategic portfolio of low and zero emission power generation assets

The Queensland Labor Government has previously committed to zero interest loans for solar and battery storage for lower income earners.